Sally Ride Interview

An Interview With The Late Sally Ride

Quick Bio

Sage advice can be gleaned indirectly from the words of people who've done amazing things. In this interview series by Jim Clash called "The Right Stuff," we share nuggets of wisdom from great individuals who've taken big risks in life -- boxers, balloonists, test pilots, astronauts, mountain climbers, ocean divers, scientists, Olympians, race car drivers -- and made the world a better place for it.

What exactly is the right stuff? Other than the name of a famous movie and book about the space race, it’s a state of mind. The term is a throwback to a time when character really counted -- when men routinely risked their lives not to get rich, bloviate or self-aggrandize, but for their country, science and exploration.

Clash, a fellow and director at The Explorers Club, is a seasoned adventurer himself. In reporting for Forbes and other publications over the last two decades, he has skied to the South Pole; driven the Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph; flown in a MiG-25 at Mach 2.6 to the edge of space; visited the North Pole twice; and climbed the Matterhorn, 23,000-foot Aconcagua and virgin peaks in Antarctica and Greenland. He has also purchased a ticket from Virgin Galactic Airways to fly into suborbital space in 2013.

After a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, astronaut Sally Ride, 61, died yesterday at her home in San Diego, CA. In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, she is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin; and her nephew, Whitney.

Ride was a hero to women everywhere. On June 18, 1983, she rode aboard Space Shuttle Challenger to become the first American woman in space. Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian, had been first in 1963.

Robert Crippen, now 74 and commander of Ride’s flight, remembers the experience fondly. “We always said the crew was made up of ‘Sally Ride, and others!’ She had so much media pressure -- we just tried to protect her from guys like you,” Crippen grinned. “She was overwhelmed, but did her job as well as any guy.”

Sandra Magnus, 47, an astronaut on the final flight of the Shuttle program a year ago, acknowledged Ride as well. “I had wanted to be an astronaut since middle school,” said Magnus. “Right before high school, there was an article about the first class of women astronauts in 1978 [which included Ride]. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, there is a path for me,’ because I had expected to have to break down doors as a girl.”

After retiring from NASA in 1987, Ride, a physicist, became a science fellow at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford, her alma mater, then in 1989 a professor of physics and director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego. She was the only person to sit on both panels investigating the big Shuttle accidents -- Challenger in 1986, and Columbia in 2003.

In 2001, Ride started her own company, Sally Ride Science, to help inspire girls to pursue careers in science and math. When Ride passed yesterday, her organization had grown to a staff of 40. She wrote six science books for children, including one that explained how to make a sandwich in space.

Ride blazed other trails, too. She was one of just 20 Honorary Members (’84) of The Explorers Club, and one of the first women ever admitted into the once all-male organization.

A while back, I had a rare chance to interview the icon. Following are excerpts from the conversation.

Sally Ride: I remember the day vividly. I think everybody over 10 years of age remembers. I was playing in a tennis tournament in Delaware. I’m from California and was a pretty good player in high school. I was staying with a family that summer that belonged to the country club where the tournament was being held. The family, the other person there with me and I stayed up to watch.

JC: At that historic moment, did you ever think you would get to go into space?

SR: If you asked me if I had wanted to, I would have jumped at the chance! But, no, I never thought it was a possibility.

JC: Because you were the first American woman in space, are you a role model for young women?

SR: I didn't go into it to be a role model. But I think it's important for little girls growing up, and young women, to have one in every walk of life. So from that point of view, I'm proud to be a role model!

JC: What do you think about private-sector space efforts?

SR: I think eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help. Whether it's going to be a consortium or one entity remains to be seen. I could be wrong. I could be one of the old fogies! Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing. It happens. A company has to be willing to bear the risk of its rocket failing. It's a very large capital investment.

JC: Would you ever consider going back to space?

SR: My first flight was in 1983, my second in 1984 [both aboard Challenger]. I was a few months into training for my third at the time of the Challenger accident. I left NASA several years ago, so right now I'm not eligible. But I just might follow the John Glenn model and give them a call in 20 years or so. You never know [laughs].

JC: If a small company has a space tourism accident, will it dramatically impact the overall effort?

SR: I think so. You can picture pretty easily if there were a paying passenger aboard a rocket that failed, like Challenger failed. Certainly it would be a tragedy, and a tragedy for the company. They would have a hard time recovering from it.